Arthur Levine and HP history

Have y'all listened to the new TLC interview with Arthur Levine yet? It's on the most recent pottercast, and I'm really glad Melissa starts out asking about dates of the beginnings of Harry Potter, because it is quite literally impossibly to find a proper timeline of the whole thing. Still, I am feeling stupidly proud that I could have told you that whole story (of how HP came to America), sans a date or two.

So it goes like this:

April 1997: Arthur Levine and scholastic bid on the rights for the American version of Harry Potter.

July 1997: Philosopher's stone published in UK.

October 1998*: Sorcerer's Stone published in US.

*according to my 1st edition copy, not the interview. I think my mom got my copy sometime around September 1998, so a little over a year after it came out in England. And wow, but is my book showing every one of those 7+ years.